EDM-ANA-Preview

OILERS (10-10-1) at DUCKS (9-9-5)
4 p.m. ET, FS-W, SNW, NHL.TV

Hitchcock was hired Tuesday after Todd McLellan was fired. The Oilers won 4-3 in overtime at the San Jose Sharks in Hitchcock's first game behind the bench, but they are 2-6-0 in their past eight games.
Anaheim defeated the Vancouver Canucks 4-3 at Honda Center on Wednesday after consecutive overtime losses to the Toronto Maple Leafs and Colorado Avalanche. The Ducks are 4-8-4 in their past 16 games.

Players to watch

Oilers center Connor McDavid has eight points (three goals, five assists) in a four-game point streak. He had eight points (one goal, seven assists) in four games against Anaheim last season.
Ducks center Ryan Getzlaf has four points (two goals, two assists) in his past two games. He has six points (one goal, five assists) in his past three games against Edmonton.

They said it

"I found that the weight and the size and diligence of this team was really impressive. It's my job to get it out of them more and more as we move along, but we can play quick. We're not the fastest team in the National Hockey League but we can play quick." -- Oilers coach Ken Hitchcock
"[Getzlaf] is our captain. You see on the stat sheet, he's leading our offense night in, night out by scoring. He's not really been known over the [years] as a big scorer, more of a point guy who can create, but right now he's doing what we ask of him, and we're looking for some other people to join that wagon train." -- Ducks coach Randy Carlyle

Oilers projected lineup
Ducks projected lineup
Status report

Ritchie was moved from the second line to the fourth line against Vancouver and was credited with an assist for the third straight game, matching his longest point streak in the NHL.

Stat pack

Seven of the past nine regular-season games between the Ducks and Oilers have been decided by one goal, including five that went past regulation. The Ducks also won a seven-game series against the Oilers in the 2017 Western Conference Second Round.